NOVEJIBUE 25, 3898.] 



SCIENGF 



733 



lations are of especial importance and yet 

 there is no adequate mode of expressing 

 them. It is questionable how far such im- 

 portant relations as the electro- chemical 

 and those of chemical affinity itself can be 

 deciphered from those equations. Certain 

 it is that the best constructed equation fre- 

 quently represents only one of many re- 

 actions occurring at the same time and 

 under the same conditions, and there is no 

 way of indicating under what conditions 

 the given equation is true. It often hap- 

 pens, especially in organic chemistry, that 

 an equation upon which much stress is laid 

 is really a secondary and subordinate one, 

 and since this is not indicated by the for- 

 mula the student may be mislead. 



Such questions as whether all of these 

 more or less desirable matters can ever be 

 represented by any system, or whether the 

 present system is not the most perfect 

 which we can hope for, do not come within 

 the scope of the present discussion. It is 

 suflicient to point out that the system is not 

 flawless. We must all acknowledge that it 

 is indispensable to chemists and, being 

 something more than a mere shorthand 

 system, greatly aids him in his work. 



For these reasons all young chemists 

 must be properly initiated and inducted 

 into the mysteries of the system so that 

 they too may belong to the great order of 

 the illuminati. 



The great value of symbols and formulas 

 in teaching chemistr^^ is not to be ques- 

 tioned. Their use is essential to the im- 

 parting of a quick grasp and a clean men- 

 tal picture of what takes place. But their 

 abuse is quite possible, and I shall briefly 

 point out some of the dangers which lie in 

 this direction. It must be constantly borne 

 in mind that these formulas do not consti- 

 tute the science of chemistry, but are 

 merely an abbreviated mode of stating 

 some of the facts, while many do not admit 

 of such concise, graphic representation. So 



much stress is sometimes laid upon these 

 symbols, and so much store set by their 

 manipulation, that the student may gather 

 the impression that he knows and under- 

 stands much of the science when he can 

 glibly rattle off a few of them, and he may 

 devote much time to memorizing certain of 

 them which it were far better to spend in 

 an attempt at grasping the great science it- 

 self. 



It has occurred to me that it might be 

 profitable to point out the following dangers 

 of abuse : 



1st. 27(6 Danger of Methodism. This is a 

 danger common to much of the elementary 

 teaching of the day. We have of late 

 years many schools of methods established 

 all over the country. These have their 

 value in so far as they tell how knowledge 

 may be imparted in an orderly, systematic, 

 methodical manner, but great cai'e must be 

 exercised lest the method should be magni- 

 fied above the knowledge and the student 

 go away with the empty method alone. I 

 have known such schools where the whole 

 subject was made ridiculous by extended 

 dissertations upon the proper posture of the 

 child in reciting or in drinking water, or 

 some equally subordinate matter where the 

 time at command was too valuable for more 

 than brief mention of such details. And 

 so we can all doubtless recall text-books on 

 chemistry where large space is given to the 

 arrangement, manipulation or completion 

 of formulas and equations. Sometimes 

 they are placed before the pupil like a dis- 

 sected map or puzzle, shaken together or 

 with some missing member to be supplied, 

 certainly giving him one false idea, namely, 

 that such equations are to be worked out 

 with pencil and paper where the effort 

 should be to impress upon him the knowl- 

 edge that such equations are legitimate 

 only when they are the result of actual ex- 

 periments and when proved in every par- 

 ticular by direct trial. Such juggling with 



